Starboy Review

After the Grammy award-winning album Beauty Behind The Madness helped him become a household name, many people including myself were wondering how The Weeknd would top his last album.  After the announcement of his latest album Starboy, I was impressed by the slew of singles he released.  The Weeknd has been one of my favorite artists since his first few mix-tapes, and I was excited for Starboy. Did Abel deliver or did he just get caught up in the hype?

Abel experimented with his sound instead of sticking with the dark moody sounds of his mix-tapes.  I appreciated how he tried to grow as an artist, but some of these songs were just god-awful.  Rockin’ and Secrets should have never made it onto this album, nor anywhere to be honest. The pre-chorus vocals made me angry, and the lyrics are less than terrible. Lana Del Ray is awful, I always try to find the good in artist and be open-minded but she is garbage, and her interlude is pointless.  Abel has some of the most cringe-worthy lines I’ve heard in recent memory. ” David Carradine, I ‘ma die when I cum”, “Got a sweet Asian chick, she go low mane”, just to name a few.  I want to know who in The Weeknd’s camp let these corny ass lines fly.  Aside from the title track I don’t think Abel and Daft Punk mesh well, it seems forced and contrived.  The song with Future was boring and it almost put me to sleep. I have no idea what they were trying to go for here.  Future sounded uninterested and like he didn’t even want to be on the track.  The Weeknd does he thing on this track but I feel as though Future could have been left off of it.

Aside from all my gripes, this was a very enjoyable album.  True Colors is one of the most beautiful songs I have heard this year.  Sidewalk is a great track and Kendrick Lamar gives a phenomenal verse.  The production is amazing throughout the entire project.  Abel is an amazing singer with a great vocal range.  His voice demands your attention and is beautiful.  My biggest gripe with this project is it’s not consistent.  There will be a good couple tracks and then a streak of mediocre and terrible tracks.  But the good outweighs the bad and I enjoyed it.  I do wish he would have cut down some of these tracks the album is way too long.  Abel could have taken off at least 5 tracks off of this to make it flow more and make it more cohesive.  I enjoyed this album overall.

Score 3/5

Favorite Tracks: Party Monster, Reminder, Sidewalk, True Colors

How did you like Starboy? Did you love it or hate it? Let me know what you think. I hope everyone is being safe and getting ready for the holidays. God Bless.